Chloe’s Story

Chloe’s Story

Chloe was born prematurely at 26 weeks on 11 March 2024, weighing just 2lb 5oz. Her unexpected arrival via emergency C-section marked the beginning of a long and emotional journey for her family, as she faced the challenges of early birth and a lengthy stay in hospital far from home. Chloe’s mum, Harriet shares her story here.

Chloe arrived in Guernsey via C-section as she was breech and I had to have a general anaesthetic as there wasn’t time for a spinal. My husband, Jason, didn’t even manage to make it to the hospital before she was born as he had to wait for someone to come and look after our 2 year old son Jack. I didn’t get to meet Chloe until she was around 5 hours old. We were flown to Portsmouth Hospital the next day, leaving my husband and son behind. I was an inpatient for a few days while I recovered, but when I was discharged I was put in an apartment a 15 minute drive away from the hospital. It was hard having to leave Chloe each day knowing I was so far away.

Chloe had her breathing tube removed on day 8 and started using a machine called BiPAP, but she was already breathing on her own by then. By day 10, she switched to a high-flow oxygen system, not because she needed extra oxygen, but just to give her lungs a bit of support with the pressure.

Initially doctors said Chloe was doing really well. It wasn’t until she was a few weeks old that she started having daily, multiple episodes where her heart rate and oxygen levels dropped, which we were told is completely normal for premature babies. Nonetheless, it was incredibly hard to see her stop breathing sometimes hundreds of times a day, turn blue and have to have nurses intervene to get her breathing again.

Various times Chloe seemed to improve enough to come off highflow (respiratory support that delivers heated and humidified air or oxygen) and have no respiratory support, and we would be talking about going home. But, within a few days of being off the highflow, she would have big setbacks and home was off the cards again. As Chloe didn’t seem to be improving doctors were starting to consider other reasons for her breathing issues, including treating her for reflux, giving her blood transfusions due to her haemoglobin being low, removing dairy from her diet in case she had CMPA. Jason and Jack would visit for a bit and then return to Guernsey, so I was mostly with Chloe by myself.

By the time Chloe reached her due date it became clear that the issues she was having were not just due to prematurity and the doctors had exhausted all ideas. So we were moved to Southampton Hospital on 8th July so we could see the respiratory, neurology and genetics specialists there. At this point we realised we weren’t going home any time soon and Jason and Jack came back over to stay until we all went home together.

When we moved to Southampton we stayed in Frankie’s Den. After being a 15 minute drive away from Chloe in Portsmouth, it was amazing to be just across the road. Having the apartment meant we could all be together and it being so close meant that we could pop across and see Chloe at any time. And, I was also able to spend more time with Jason and Jack. Jack also loved his Lego room!

Various different tests were done which seemed to suggest that Chloe’s breathing issues were caused by an obstruction of her airway, although they never managed to find where the obstruction was. At this point the doctors said they thought Chloe would eventually just grow out of the issues. But, unsure how long this would take, they wanted to send her back to Guernsey Hospital for a month so she could be closer to home and then return to Southampton to see how things had changed. Guernsey Hospital adjusted their criteria a few times regarding what Chloe needed to be doing before they could accept her, but eventually decided they wouldn’t be able to take her after all. Thankfully by this point we had seen a big improvement in her condition, so we were now aiming to go straight home. 

The doctors were never able to assess whether Chloe had a safe swallow, so she was not allowed to feed orally. Because of this, her doctor wanted to fit her with a PEG feeding tube, given it was likely to be longer term, it was a better alternative than the NG feeding tube that she had down her nose as she would pull this out multiple times a day. Her doctor said she would not be discharged without this, so thankfully they were able to fit her in quite quickly and this didn’t delay her.

Once Chloe was discharged from hospital she stayed in Frankie’s Den with me for a couple of nights to make sure that I was happy with everything before going back to Guernsey. It was so reassuring for these first nights to be just across the road with her as I knew if anything happened I could get her to the hospital quickly.

Chloe and myself finally came home on 24^th September, having spent 6 ½ months in hospital in the UK. She came home on CPAP at night (to keep airways open while sleeping) and for naps, and also had a Sats monitor (a device that measures your blood oxygen saturation level) whenever she was sleeping.

We were so grateful to be able to stay in Frankie’s Den, our home from home, for 2 ½ months being just a few minutes walk away from Chloe. Chloe has to have regular check ups in Southampton and when it requires an overnight stay it has been really helpful to use Frankie’s Den again.

Chloe has managed to come off her CPAP completely now, with just having the sats monitor on to make sure there are no issues while she sleeps. At the time of writing (October 2025), Chloe is now 18 months old and is very delayed, but she continues to develop all the time. She is such a content little girl who brings so much joy to her family. She’s our little miracle.

Our trio of flats are located within 100 steps of the entrance to Southampton Hospital, for Guernsey families to use for free when their baby or child is poorly. When you Buy-A-Night, you are helping to keep our doors open for more families like Harriet’s. You can also make general donations to other aspects of the PPBF’s work here including Baby Boxes and neonatal equipment for Guernsey’s Hospital.